A group of Internet top-level domain (TLD) holders have formed a
non-profit association to prevent what they fear will become a
splintered Internet domain naming system.
The new group, the Top Level Domain Association (TLDA) will accept
membership applications from an estimated 200 operators of some 500
TLDs around the world.
The best-known TLDs are those recognised by the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), including .com,
.net, .edu and .org. But many others exist outside the authority of
ICANN. Those domains, however, are only viewable on the Internet if
special Domain Name System (DNS) configuration settings have been
added to users' computers.
Leah Gallegos, a board member of the new group and president of
Georgia-based domain supplier AtlanticRoot Network, said the new
association is being created to recognise existing unofficial TLD
holders who are being ignored by ICANN and to foster co-operation
to avoid continued TLD naming conflicts.
The problem, says Gallegos, is that some of ICANN's pending TLD
designations, such as .biz, are already being used as TLDs outside
the official ICANN system. What that will do is create havoc and
domain name "collisions". Internet users will not be able to find
the sites they are seeking because of duplicate TLDs in use across
the Internet, she said.
ICANN and the operators of the approximately 500 unofficial TLDs
will be invited to join the new group, Gallegos said, as it "works
toward a stable, collision-free name space" online.
AtlanticRoot manages five TLDs not recognised by ICANN. They are
.biz, .online, .etc, .ngo (nongovernmental organisation) and .npo
(non-profit organisation).
In March, California-based New.net, a start-up domain name
registry, began operations. It launched 20 new TLDs outside of
ICANN's existing system. Eighteen of the 20 collided with TLDs that
are already in use elsewhere, Gallegos said, fueling concerns about
such overlaps.
Meanwhile, talks are continuing today between the US Commerce
Department, ICANN and California-based VeriSign over the management
of the existing .com TLD and related issues.
VeriSign proposed changes two months ago in the contract it has
with ICANN to administer the registries for the .com, .org and .net
TLDs.
VeriSign and ICANN approved a series of proposed changes to the
original contracts, but the Commerce Department must give final
approval if the changes are to be enacted. The amended contracts
would allow VeriSign to continue to administer the .com and .net
registries for the next five years, while giving up the .org
registry next year.